the war is about to shift away from taliban strongholds in the south and to the eastern border with pakistan where al qaeda still operates. general david petraeus is retiring from the army later this month and will become the new director of the c.i.a. mandy clark spoke with him today in kabul about the way forward in afghanistan. >> reporter: the last days of general david petraeus's command have been marked by two major events: the president's decision to begin withdrawing u.s. forces and days later an audacious attack on one of kabul's most important hotels. general petraeus told us the assault should not be seen as a setback. do you really think that the afghan security forces are ready if they can't protect a major hotel in the cap all? >> i can tell you that our special forces who were sporp not leading and not doing-- for the afghan forces who saw the crisis response unit said that they responded very courageously. in fact, that they took the loss of life with the wounded in action i think underscores that fact. >> reporter: but the training of afghan forces is uneven at best. witness